ATIVAN
Ativan - ativin.bandcamp.com
Formed in Bloomington, Indiana in the winter of 1994 after Chris Carothers (guitar) and Rory Leitch (drums) met at Indiana University. Guitarist Dan Burton joined the group the following spring, cementing the band's loud, instrumental rock sound. Steve Albini and Carl Saff recorded the band's debut EP, Pills vs. Planes, which was released in December 1996. The spring of 1997 saw the release of the Modern Gang Reader/Larkin single, the first of several releases for Secretly Canadian Records. The band worked with Andy Bryant at King Size on German Water, its debut album for Secretly Canadian, releasing it in March 1998. A return to Albini's Chicago studio, Electrical Audio, yielded the four-song EP Summing The Approach, which was released in the fall of 1998. Taking a break while Carothers moved out west and Burton worked on Early Day Miners, Ativin reconvened in 2001 with drummer Kevin Duneman, to record Interiors, which added sparse, minimalist vocals to their sound. Interiors was released in early 2002 to critical acclaim. Continuing on in the same vein, Ativin recorded Night Mute in both Bloomington and Portland, using drummers Mark Rice (John Wilkes Booze) and Joey Ficken (The Swords Project) for release in early 2004. Ativin is now kaput.
Hunterchild - hunterchild.bandcamp.com
Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Luke Aaron Jones and fellow Dreamers of the Ghetto alum Marty Sprowles picked up the pieces and pared down the widescreen stadium-sized rock of Dreamers to the more intimate, introspective Hunterchild. Jones' vocals are more arresting than ever, indebted as much to vintage Peter Gabriel, Prince, and Depeche Mode as the rich well of electronic R&B explorations from a similar orbit as James Blake and The Weeknd in their most powerful moments. Hunterchild are comfortable in their own skin in a way that's almost unheard of for debut artists.
Co-produced with Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Wax Fang), Hunterchild's eponymous debut album is noticeably more eclectic than Dreamers of the Ghetto. From the beat-heavy sexploits of "Part Time" to the stark falsetto professions of "Aching," this is a story in 11 parts. Equally complicated, heartbreaking and revelatory, Hunterchild bares an emotional fearlessness that only comes from a devotion to the light in the face of total darkness.
dead letter music - deadlettermusic.bandcamp.com